Thomas Timko, 39

Chief accounting officer and controller

Delphi Corp.

Troy

Biggest accomplishment: Identifying accounting problems at the Interpublic Group of Cos. Inc., restating and issuing accounting restatements for a five-year period.

Current goal: To finish fixing Delphi Corp.’s accounting issues and to help guide the company through the accounting changes that are associated with the company’s plans to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a process called “fresh-start” accounting.

When Thomas Timko see’s a problem, he wants to fix it. Once it’s fixed, he’s eager to move on to the next problem. And when all the problems are fixed, Timko is ready for a new challenge.

The approach has worked well for Timko. At PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. in the 1990s he was in charge of some of the firm’s largest accounts. And since he left in 2002 Timko has held high-level accounting positions at three publicly traded companies: Dover Corp., Interpublic Group of Cos. Inc. and, since June 2006, at Delphi.

At PricewaterhouseCoopers, Timko’s clients included Hamilton, Bermuda-based Ingersoll-Rand Co. and New York City-based McKinsey & Co. Timko also was appointed team leader of the company’s 50-person office in Florham Park, N.J.

“I view my 11 years with PWC as a training ground and it’s really what laid down, from my perspective, the foundation for me to succeed.”

At New York City-based Dover, Timko was exposed to a large, decentralized manufacturer with 50 operating units. At New York City-based advertising giant Interpublic Group, Timko was hired after the company had restated one financial period. Later, Timko and Interpublic’s accounting team discovered more problems and decided that a five-year period needed to be restated.

“That was by far the most stressful period I had in my career,” he said.

At Delphi, Timko joined a company that had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and had recently missed a filing deadline with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Delphi also was reeling from accounting scandals and knew it needed to fix nine material accounting weaknesses.

Brian Decker, partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, said Timko quickly established himself as a leader at Delphi.

“He has really come in and has given them both a lift from a direction perspective and a strategic perspective,” Decker said. “He has really boosted the morale of a group of people who have really had a tough couple of years.”

Timko is also younger than most corporate controllers at companies the size of Delphi.

Delphi is the world’s second-largest automotive supplier with $26.4 billion in annual sales.

Timko said he has risen quickly because he always pushes himself to move on once he has mastered a position.

“I have a great deal of energy and I am very, very impatient for change,” Timko said. “So I tend to find myself in situations were there is a lot to get done.”